The issues raised are analytical, strategic, and goal-oriented. One of these product implementation questions is troubleshooting problems in products, features, or KPIs that are often asked in FAANG/Big Tech companies (Google interviews, Facebook PMs) and even startups too.

The interviewer explains some symptoms (like changes in metrics, features, or customer behavior) and expects an analysis of the situation and the root cause of the problem. These questions are called "debugging," "investigation," "root cause," "change metrics," or "diagnostic" questions.

Even in a typical work environment, the product manager and his team have limited time and resources to assess and respond to such issues. Similar to a doctor, PMs here try to understand symptoms by asking questions, checking relevant indicators, and probing different causes and probabilities by hitting and testing methods. Eliminate each possibility one by one, find the root cause, and finally prescribe a solution.

In this case, the PM chairs the discussion between PMs from Engineering, Business, Operations, Data Science, and many more. You must maintain a delicate balance between asking questions and inferring from the information provided, and your approach must always converge. Call it the “judgment circle, where you will be judged on everything you ask, say, or infer.” One of the most common types of RCA problems is margin, which is very popular, and a number of books have published frameworks around this topic.